Fabregas: ‘Soule a great talent, Senegal very unfair on Assane Diao’

Cesc Fabregas praises Roma talent Matias Soulé, but reveals Assane Diao’s injury and hits out at ‘not right and unfair’ Senegal coach Pape Thiaw.

The game was decided by a Wesley Franca angled drive that slipped through Alex Valle’s legs, but it turned into a battle between two very similar teams.

“I saw a really physical side, the kind of characteristics we are lacking, so either you get the ball on the ground and play, or you struggle,” Fabregas told Sky Sport Italia.

“I am proud that the team was competitive to the end, maybe we deserved a goal, but Roma deserve congratulations for playing with physicality. They have an excellent player in Matias Soulé, who I believe will be a huge player in future, so we should enjoy seeing him in Italy. I think he’s a player of a very high level, and he made the difference today.”

Without injured Alvaro Morata, Sergi Roberto, Alberto Dossena and Edoardo Goldaniga, plus suspended Maxi Perrone, Fabregas initially opted to use Nico Paz as a False 9.

“Nico Paz had fever for three days and didn’t train, so we rather forced him to play, as we didn’t have many options today,” revealed the Como coach.

They struggled to create chances, and were then forced to bring on Tasos Douvikas after 37 minutes when Assane Diao went off injured.

“These are matches where either you run straight at them, as we did with Assane in the first half, then Posch in the second, or they block you off. It’s about who wins the most individual duels, and today Roma won more, especially in midfield.

“Serie A has the least amount of time with the ball rolling, but that’s because it is so physical, with so many individual duels all over the pitch. The referee wanted to let play run a bit more today, quite rightly, so this is something we can improve on.”

With regards to the referee letting play run, he did not stop when Jayden Addai was down injured in the build-up to the Roma goal.

Usually this would lead to furious arguing, but Como accepted the decision and did not protest. Did he expect Roma to put it out of play?

“He hurt himself, it’s difficult for a player. You have to be extremely honest to put the ball out in that situation, I think 99 per cent of players wouldn’t put it out, so it’s only fair to carry on. The football world has changed with VAR, so we have to keep going and then wait and see, we can’t hang around,” noted Fabregas.

“It was just bad luck, nothing malicious.”

Diao pulled up clutching his thigh after a sprint on goal and limped off after 37 minutes, which puts him at huge risk of missing the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal.

The Como boss had already confessed that he had an ‘unpleasant’ conversation with the coach of Senegal last week, so this could get a lot worse with Pape Thiaw.

“Diao hurt his flexor during that strong run on goal. It’s really difficult to be honest in these post-match comments, because we get attacked either way, but I will try,” noted Fabregas.

“I am a huge fan of international teams, I am really glad when my players are called for international duty, it’s a big thing for a player. I just asked for a little common sense for them not to call him, because this is a player who barely featured for eight months as he keeps getting hurt and can find no consistency.

“He probably shouldn’t have played today either, but I picked him because he’s leaving tomorrow and I won’t have him for five weeks, so we pay his wages, at least let him play for us a bit.”

What made it an unpleasant conversation with the coach of Senegal?

“It’s that he said if Diao doesn’t come with us, he won’t go to the World Cup. That’s not fair, it plays on the fears of the player, he is 20 years old and has a whole career ahead of him. I don’t agree with this, it was not fair and not right,” concluded Fabregas.